Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(69)

“Micah, just move… please,” I said, trying to move away from him and bumping into Jace.

Micah shoved his tray to the opposite side in front of me and got up to walk all the way around the table and benches. When he came back around and sat down, he eyed me curiously. Jaxon sat down in his vacated spot and, with his arm behind my back he gripped my hip and scooted me closer to him. Then he brought his arm back and started eating like nothing had happened. Quinn and Cole finally came to join us at the table as well, moving in next to Micah.

I leaned into Jaxon. “I didn’t know if you wanted to stick around here or eat at home so, I didn’t grab any food,” I told him.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked, motioning to get up.

“You just bought all this food. We should at least eat it.”

He situated himself back into his seat and shrugged noncommittally. I didn’t like that I felt like I was in trouble for something, like I needed to explain my actions. I hadn’t even done anything wrong. I placed my palms down on the table so I could push myself up taller. I gave Jaxon a quick peck on the lips and I watched as the tension left his face. He looked down at me and smiled, then gestured for me to eat as well.

With a mouth full of food, Micah pointed his fork at the both of us. “What’s going on with you, Emmsie? You never dole out the affection.” Apparently, the extent of my nicknames at this school was never-ending; I hadn’t heard that one yet. I wasn’t a fan.

“Not for you, Micah,” I responded vaguely.

“Don’t call her Emmsie,” Jaxon shot a hard look at Micah while speaking.

“What, you’re the only one that can call her something special?”

“Just drop it,” I said to both of them. I noticed Jace stiffening up beside me.

“I call her by her name, jackass. Not some cutesy nickname,” Jaxon replied anyway.

“Emerson sounds like a dude’s name,” Micah retorted, and then a cocky grin spread across his face as he got an idea. Uh-oh I didn’t like that face. “When I’m pounding into her, I like to call out a chick’s name.” My mouth fell open at what he had just said.

First, I noticed Jace’s fist clenching, and then I felt the air rush past my head as Jaxon’s body flew across the table. He took Micah down with him during his flight. Both of them grunted from the impact of the hard ground, although Micah took the brunt of it with Jaxon on top of him. I sat up to look over the edge of the table at the two of them down there. Jaxon was pummeling him in the face with his fists repeatedly. Micah was trying to bring his forearms up to block the punches.

Jace swiftly scrambled over the table feet first and grabbed Jaxon by the collar of his shirt. I realized Jace had been anticipating this, because he scooped him up way too fast to have been surprised. Cole jumped up and helped Jace move Jaxon away from Micah. Cole stepped on Micah’s hand and twisted his foot to grind it into the ground on his way out. Micah didn’t say anything, but I saw him wince from the pain. Quinn shook her head back and forth at all of them. As the three of them were walking out of the cafeteria, Jace and Cole had their arms wrapped around Jaxon.

“Fuck you, Riley!” Micah bellowed from his spot on the ground.

I watched as Jace and Cole’s arms flexed from the brief struggle Jaxon put up. Then they continued out the door toward the parking lot, without even a glance back. It all happened so fast that not many people even noticed in the loud cafeteria. I think the only people that saw were those at our table, and one of the other tables that Jaxon and Micah fell between. Micah’s food was half on the table and half on the floor. He pulled himself back up on the bench and sat down in front of me again. His face didn’t look that bad, it was mostly just red. I knew if Jaxon wanted to, he could have done some real damage. He had his head bent forward looking down at his food.